View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Journal of Applied and Natural Science Journal of Applied and Natural Science 11(4): 806-809 (2019) ISSN : 0974-9411 (Print), 2231-5209 (Online) journals.ansfoundation.org Technology mapping and adoption behaviour for sugarcane protection technologies by Dharmapuri District Sugarcane growers C. Karpagam* Central Institute for Cotton Research, Regional Station, Coimbatore – 641003 (Tamil Article Info Nadu), India https://doi.org/ M. K. Selvam 10.31018/jans.v11i4.2186 Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Coimbatore - 641041 (Tamil Nadu), India Received: October 31, 2019 P. Mooventhan Revised: December 2, 2019 Accepted: December 5, 2019 National Institute of Biotic Stress Management, Raipur - 493225 (Chhattisgarh), India *Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] How to Cite Abstract Karpagam, C. et al. (2019). Sugarcane is the second most important industrial crop in the country occupying about 5 Technology mapping and million hectares of area with the production of 376.9 mt. Although more than 40% of the adoption behaviour for cane area in the country is in Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu ranks first in productivity of sugarcane protection tech- sugarcane. Even though Tamil Nadu is in higher productivity zone, the average farm nologies by Dharmapuri level potential yield was very less which leads lot of scope for increasing production District Sugarcane grow- ers. Journal of Applied and in Tamil Nadu. Sugarcane farmers from Tamil Nadu ranged from small to large. All Natural Science, 11(4): the farmers not following all the recommended practices. Hence, a study is required 806 - 809 https://doi.org/ to analyses the predominant technologies in the particular area and adoption behav- ior of the farmers to bridge the technological gap. With that idea in mind, a study has 10.31018/jans.v11i4.2186 been taken up with the objectives that to document the technological mapping and to study the adoption behavior of sugarcane farmers at Subaramani Siva Co-operative Sug- ar Mill area in Dharmapui district of Tamil Nadu state. From Dharmapuri districts sev- en blocks were selected. From each block ten respondents were selected; thus 70 respondents were constituted for the study. The Study revealed that all the blocks are not similar in case of technologies, the predominant technologies are differing block to block. Adoption pattern for protection technologies reveled that integrated weed management was adopted by majority of the respondent. The technologies ‘pheromone trap’ and ‘soil trenching of recommended termiticides’ are not at all adopted by the respondents in the study area. Keywords: Adoption, Full adoption, Not adoption, Partial adoption, Technological Mapping and Yield gap INTRODUCTION in Tamil Nadu. Sugarcane farmers from Tamil Nadu ranged from small to large. The diverse cli- India is the second largest producer of sugar, our matic condition and socio-economic conditions of export share is marginal due to large domestic the sugarcane farmers demand cost effective demands. Sugarcane plays a vital role in agricul- technologies. All the farmers are not following all tural growth rate. Sugarcane is the second most the recommended practices and in every place we important industrial crop in the country occupying can’t observe the uniform technologies. Hence, a about 5 million hectares of area with the produc- study was required to study the technological tion of 376.9 mt which support the production of mapping and the adoption behaviour of the farm- 32.38 mt of sugar (Anonymous, 2019). About 5 ers to bridge the technological gap. With that idea million farmers are involved in the cultivation of in mind, a study has been taken up with the fol- sugarcane and sugar industry contributes signifi- lowing objectives: i) To prepare technology map- cantly to the rural economy by providing employ- ping for sugarcane technologies in Subramaniya ment for nearly 4 % of the rural population directly Siva Cooperative Sugar Mill area of Dharmapuri or indirectly (Anonymous, 2015). Even though district, ii) To study the adoption pattern for protec- Tamil Nadu is in higher productivity zone, the av- tion technologies of sugarcane farmers in erage farm level potential yield was very less Subramaniya Siva Cooperative Sugar Mill area of which leads lot of scope for increasing production Dharmapuri district. This work is licensed under Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). © 2018: Author (s). Publishing rights @ ANSF. Karpagam, C. et al. / J. Appl. & Nat. Sci. 11(4): 806 - 809 (2019) Fig. 1. Block wise technology mapping for sugarcane in Dharmapuri District. MATERIALS AND METHODS (2019) was adopted for the study. Focused group discussion (FGD), Personal interview method and District Dharmapuri was selected for the research observation methods were followed to collect the since it has significant area under sugarcane cultiva- information from the respondents. tion. Seven blocks and ten farmers from each block were selected as study area and respond- RESULTS ents respectively (Fig.1). Subaramani Siva Co- The Technological mapping pave the way to un- operative Sugar Mill is the technological backstop- derstand the predominant technologies prevailed ping source for the farmers in the study area. The in the study area which in turn helps to sugar mill value of the study largely depends upon the differ- and policy maker to restructure their extension ent variables taken into consideration for the strategies for the particular area. Adoption behav- study. For technological mapping, predominant ior of protection technologies gives the ideas technologies prevailing in the block were consid- about the technologies reached farmers and tech- ered. For adoption study different protection tech- nologies not yet reached farmers. Hence, these nologies viz., sett treatment, healthy planting ma- two dimensions gives holistic view about the cane terial usage, chemicals for Early Shoot Borer cultivation in the particular area. (ESB), Trichogramma for Internode Borer (INB), Technology mapping: It could be observed from Pheromone trap for INB, Change of lure, White Table 1 that each block was different in technolo- grub beetle collection, termiticides trenching and gy predominance based on the local condition. Integrated Weed management (IWM) were select- Dharmapuri block is low rainfall area; hence it was ed. The methodology followed by Karpagam et.al Table 1. Block wise technology mapping for sugarcane in Dharmapuri district. Dharmapuri To overcome the severe drought, drip irrigation is the predominant technology in this district. Country plough is common implements for making ridges and furrows Palakkodu Using cane trash as fodder for cattle is the predominant technology in this block. After harvesting, the top portion will be collected by the labourers and selling in local market as cattle feed and getting good income out of it. It gives additional income to the labourers. Nallampalli Onion and tomato were cultivated as intercrop in sugarcane. Karimangalam Bud chip settlings and single bud settlings are getting popular in this block. Drip irrigation was adopted by more than 30 % of the registered cane area Morappur Due to severe drought farmers are shifting to Tapiocca cultivation in this block. Cultivation of green manure crop as cover crop is predominantly practiced. Harur Poultry manure was the predominantly used in this district. Press-mud was mixed with FYM. Wider row and drip irrigation technologies were getting momentum in this block. Pennagaram It is one of the low rainfall blocks in Dharmapuri district. Minor millets are the predominant crops in this block. 807 Karpagam, C. et al. / J. Appl. & Nat. Sci. 11(4): 806 - 809 (2019) Fig. 2. Adoption pattern of sugarcane farmers for protection technologies in Dharmapuri district. observed that the predominance technology in the for tube/bore wells (574) and ordinary wells block was ‘Drip irrigation”. Palakkodu block was (12767) (Technical report of central ground water predominant with the practice that cutting and board, 2009). Hence the drip irrigation technology selling the top portion of harvested cane as fodder was predominant in this block as well. Pennagram in local market. It may be due to that this particu- is economically backward block and predominantly lar block was dominated with majority labours cat- occupied by small farmers and labours, the major egory. The income from the particular practice crop in the particular block was minor millets. may be an additional income for their livelihood. Adoption behaviour for protection technolo- In Nallampalli block intercrop in sugarcane was gies in Dharmapuri district: It can be observed predominant technology which followed by the from Table 2 and Fig. 2 that healthy planting mate- majority of the cane growers. The predominant rial was the practice adopted by majority (61.43%) technologies in Kariyamangalam block were Sus- of the respondents in the study area. Use of tainable Sugarcane Initiatives (SSI) along with healthy planting material is not required any addi- bud chip settling and drip irrigation. This block had tional cost. Hence, the practice was followed by 358 numbers of tube/bore wells and 7114 ordinary the majority of the respondents without additional wells (Technical report of central ground water cost of cultivation. Integrated weed management board, 2009). These may be the reasons for pre- was the next technology adopted by the majority